Advertising, ad campaigns, ad agencies, and the people that make it happen

This just in from my Mexico City correspondent. Mexico is about to enter the space race and is looking for an agency to promote the idea to the Mexican people. Politicians there aren't under any illusions that they'll be able to rival NASA's spend which, at about $1.6bn, is bigger than the GDP of Mongolia. A Mexican science and technology commission spokesman said: "We'd love to become the Mexican NASA, but obviously the levels of investment are incomparable. The initial outlay would be $2m, about enough for a couple of hot air balloons. But it's a start. The early days of the agency will concentrate on developing technology and working with universities and industry on satellite launches. All I can say is, not being a fan of Mexican food; I would have thought all those re-fried beans could generate more than enough methane to get you outside the earth’s gravity.

Astronauts are already in training for lift off!